Major Demons (19 page)

CHAPTER 41

Weapon looked at the group of nephilim with annoyance.

“Can I have something to eat or are you guys just going to let me die in these chains?”

Thanatos was making funny faces at Lucia. He stopped long enough to respond.

“You tried to steal from us AND you’re a cranky asshole. No one feels bad for you.”

Steam was roasting one of the souls from the airplane over a fire he had started.

“I’ll give you something to eat when you admit that this was my airplane and you have no right to anything on board. These are all my souls that I share freely with my friends.”

Weapon rolled his eyes.

“Fuck it then. I’ll just die in these chains I guess.”

Thanatos handed his mirror over to Lucia. She giggled at her reflection.

“Can you die a little quieter then? I’m trying to play with my niece.”

When Samael finally awoke, he saw Hypnos and Lilith standing over him.

“How long was I out?”

Before Hypnos could answer, Lilith pulled her father in for a hug. He winced.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot.”

“Uriel shot lightning, didn’t he? Wow. It’s been a while since someone has tried to ‘bolt’ me to death.”

“We found a couple of nephilim and a plane with dozens of evil souls to…”

Hypnos cleared his throat loudly and Lilith looked up at him. He shook his head.

“Oh right. Angels don’t eat evil humans. I’m sure there were some good ones that you can have for a snack if you’re feeling…”

Hypnos shook his head again and cut her off.

“You were out for a few days, Dad. We found two nephilim, Steam and Weapon. Steam is alright. He tried to heal you. Weapon is in chains because he tried to steal the airplane from us and then he attacked us.”

“So why didn’t one of you put that Weapon guy down?”

Lilith frowned.

“Because we shouldn’t be killing nephilim if we can avoid it. Not anymore. Shadow’s going to need some help and nephilim are powerful. Weapon hides all sorts of cool shit in his coat. He has a rocket launcher. I think I saw a mouse trap. There’s a few clocks. He had a cool collection of butter knives…”

“The asshole shot us with a rocket launcher, Dad. Thanatos was about to put him down, but Lilith told him not to.”

“Where’s Thanatos?”

“Playing with my daughter. They’re sitting by the fire over there next to Steam. Weapon is in chains. He could be useful, daddy. Why don’t you let us keep him?”

“Lilith, he isn’t a puppy. Weapon is a dangerous…”

“Oh can I have a puppy? I want a puppy too.”

Hypnos exhaled loudly.

“Lilith, you’re going to annoy him to death. Stop it.”

“But I’ve wanted a puppy for a long time.”

Samael looked at Lilith for several seconds without speaking then turned to Hypnos.

“Is the area secure? No angels or demons patrolling? Are we sure Uriel won’t attack us again?”

Hypnos grinned.

“I took care of that. He’s going to be drowsy for a while courtesy of a parting gift that I threw at him. It grazed him as he was thinking about turning back and fighting. I could tell it was effective. He won’t be coming back without reinforcements.”

Samael tried to push himself to his feet, but he fell back over.

“I want to meet Steam. Bring him here.”

Hypnos nodded and ran off. Lilith looked like she was deep in thought.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh I was just thinking about what you said. I want both, but if I can’t have you spare Weapon’s life AND a puppy, I think I’ll go with sparing Weapon’s life. Shadow needs all the help he can get.”

Samael chuckled.

“Well I can tell you put a lot of thought into that.”

“I did. I’ve really wanted a puppy ever since you said I could have one a few minutes ago.”

Samael sighed and shook his head. Lilith pouted.

“That’s what Leech used to do when he thought I was being annoying.”

“Wow. I definitely did
not
think you would use that as a bargaining chip. Fine. We’ll keep the nephilim alive for now and decide what to do with him later. Also… I never said you could have a puppy.”

“That’s how I heard it. I guess you need to speak more clearly in the future.”

Hypnos returned with Steam. Steam nodded at Samael.

“Glad you’re awake. Especially if Archangels are hunting us now.”

“What makes you think you’re a part of us?”

Steam brought his hands up defensively.

“I didn’t mean to imply anything. Just the general term. They’re in the area. They’re around. If I’m around, they’re not going to care whether I’m with you guys or not. I figure it’s better to have Samael and his crazy children on my side.”

“Why are you here, Steam? I heard you brought down a plane…”

“I just scavenge for the most part. Steal souls from angels and demons. Up on that plane, an angel and a demon were fighting over the pilot. I took them both out and then brought the plane down. For whatever reason, I was drawn here. Maybe it was just the fact that four nephilim were here. Had I known that beforehand, I wouldn’t have jumped off the plane. I try to stay away from other nephilim. I don’t plan on causing any trouble… especially when other nephilim are involved.”

“So what do you want from us?”

“Nothing. I’ll stick around and help if I can. If you want me to leave, I can do that too… but please tell me right now. I’d like to run the fuck away if you’d rather not have me and angels are hunting you in this area. I’ll also take the souls on the plane with me. Those are mine.”

“My daughter seems to trust you. What’s your take on the other nephilim, Weapon?”

“That guy’s an asshole. I still think we should kill him and be done with it. Lilith said we’re not going to do that. If we kill him, I call dibs on his magic weapon coat thing.”

“If we join with Shadow and help him assault Abaddon and the Dragon…”

“I can fight, if that’s what you’re asking. I don’t really know how to fight with a team, though… and I’m definitely not helping anyone take on Abaddon or the Dragon directly. I’ll kill demons. I’ll kill angels. I’ll stay the fuck away from the powerhouses you just mentioned.”

Lilith cut in.

“Not a problem. None of us is going to take on those two directly. That’s what Shadow is for. He can kill anyone or anything.”

Steam decided to make his point one more time.

“Again… I’m just a harmless scavenger. I’m not sure what brought me here, but I’m not here to hurt anyone. I’ll fight against your enemies if you guys can keep me safe. I’ve heard the stories. You defied the Archangels and you’re still alive. I imagine this is a good group to be in. Especially if you can take on Uriel and live to tell the tale.”

Samael nodded his approval.

“You can stick around. Go with Hypnos and bring the other nephilim here. I want to talk to him.”

Thanatos appeared, clutching his nose and dragging Weapon by a chain.

“This asshole headbutted me and tried to run away. Lucia lit his coat on fire and I used the distraction to bring him down. I vote we kill him now.”

Lilith looked concerned.

“Where is Lucia? You just left her by the plane?”

“Of course not.”

Thanatos turned around to reveal Lucia’s head and arms peeking out of a backpack. Samael turned his attention to Weapon.

“Why did you attack my children?”

“They wanted to take the souls I found.”

“So you decided to use a rocket launcher?”

“I’ll admit I was leaning towards a machine gun or an automatic rifle, but I hadn’t used the rocket launcher in a while and it just felt right. Sometimes you just need to launch a rocket to deal with a problem. I thought this was one of those problems. Turns out I should have went with something else.”

“What will you do if I let you go? Will you try to take the souls back?”

Hypnos and Thanatos opened their mouths to protest but Samael raised his hand to silence them.

“I’d leave. I know who you are and the souls are no longer worth fighting over. I’ve also heard you guys talking about Uriel being in the area. I want to get out of here.”

Samael grabbed his sword and slowly got to his feet. He walked towards Weapon and cut the chains.

“Go. If I see a rocket or anything like it headed this way, I will stop it and I will kill you.”

“Hey… no problem. I’m gone.”

Weapon got to his feet and ran away. Lilith looked angry.

“You didn’t even ask him if he wanted to fight for Shadow and help us.”

“I said I would spare his life and I did, but there’s no way he would want to help us.”

Hypnos cut in.

“I want to track him down and kill him. He’s still a threat and…”

Samael shook his head.

“Nope. We’re done discussing this. Let him go.”

A crow landed next to Lilith and turned into Muan.

“Finally. You guys have been running all over the place. It’s been really annoying.”

Lilith looked concerned.

“Is Shadow alright? He didn’t go after his dad without us, did he?”

“No. Just told me to find you and bring you back to him. I um…”

Muan looked around.

“… I’m just supposed to bring Lilith and her kid back. Who the hell are all these guys?”

Thanatos pointed an axe at Muan.

“We’re coming too. Shadow’s going to need all the help he can get and I’m not leaving my niece. Lead the way, little monkey demon.”

CHAPTER 42

Gangrene parried the first several shots from Nightmare and realized that he needed to slow him down. The berserker staff in Nightmare’s scythe, Rage, was adding to his power as his anger increased and Gangrene knew Nightmare would eventually kill him if he could keep ramping up like that. He tossed White Death over to Raven and returned to blocking Nightmare’s attacks. After two more blocks, Nightmare hit Gangrene’s scythe hard enough that it flew out of his hands. Nightmare brought his scythe up to finish off Gangrene. Gangrene closed his eyes.

Raven waited to make sure she had the shot and then fired. Her aim wasn’t perfect, but Nightmare took a hit in the shoulder. It delayed him for a brief second and Gangrene rolled out of the way just in time. He scrambled to his feet and started running towards his scythe.

“We can’t do this. We need to turn around and get out of here. Sound the retreat, Raven.”

Raven shook her head.

“We’ll be fine. I have a plan. You just need to hold him off for a little longer.”

“That’s the problem, Raven. I
can’t
. He’s about to go into full on psycho mode.”

Raven scanned the horizon and looked disappointed.

“Just a little longer.”

Gangrene retrieved his scythe and turned to see Nightmare charging at him again. No trash talk, no commands to his army. Gangrene knew he was impossible to stop at this point. The next time Nightmare charged, Gangrene got out of the way in time and counterattacked. His scythe pierced Nightmare’s armor around his left wrist and he ran it up his arm. Nightmare started to bleed, but he didn’t even stop to notice it. He punched Gangrene hard in the face and Gangrene went flying through the air. When he landed, he was barely holding on to consciousness. He looked for Raven, but didn’t see her anywhere. He heard White Death fire somewhere in the distance, but it didn’t affect Nightmare. His scythe went up high in the air and came crashing down towards Gangrene’s neck. Gangrene shut his eyes and embraced his impending death.

Murmur got to Gangrene just in time to block Nightmare’s swing with his own scythe. Jess was only a few steps behind and she swung her scythe hard at Nightmare, knocking him back several steps. Gangrene opened his eyes and saw Aim standing over him, extending a hand. He took it and Aim helped him to his feet.

“Your girl convinced us that this was the best way to take Nightmare down. I never thought you’d be able to kill Astaroth, though. Well done, Gangrene.”

“Raven arranged all of this?”

“Yup. She called you a stubborn ass, presented her plan, and then promised I’d get White Death back. No hard feelings about the um… time I tried to kill you?”

“I guess we’re even since the three of you saved my life. I’m still not happy about not being included in the planning. What if I didn’t make it out of there alive?”

“We were standing by. I had a clear shot in through the window. Jess was ready to teleport Murmur in there to get you out if necessary. Trust me, everything was planned for. We didn’t include you because it couldn’t look staged and we figured there was probably a little bad blood between us still.”

“You shot me in the foot, asshat.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry about that. I promise I’ll never shoot you in the foot ever again.”

“Right. Well I have an army to lead.”

Aim held out his hand. Gangrene looked confused.

“What?”

“My gun. I want White Death back.”

“Oh Nightmare took that from me. You’re going to have to get it back yourself. Good luck, Aim.”

Gangrene punched Aim in the shoulder and took off running to help his army. Aim called out after him.

“That’s not funny, Gangrene! Where the fuck is my gun?”

As Gangrene ran down the hill to join his army of demons, he passed Raven. He grabbed her arm and she started running with him.

“Aim wants his gun back. You’re not giving it to him. It’s yours now.”

“You could have just gotten me flowers and an ‘I’m a dumbass for not listening to you, Raven’ card.”

Gangrene laughed.

“Fine. Give me the gun back and I’ll get you a card and flowers.”

“No it’s ok. I want the gun now.”

Aim saw Gangrene run off with Raven and noticed that White Death was strapped to Raven’s back.

“Son of a bitch. Now what am I supposed to…”

Jess appeared next to Aim and handed him a scythe.

“Stop complaining and fight. It’s going to take all three of us to keep Nightmare at bay.”

“Where’d you get this?”

“Astaroth’s corpse. Stop bitching about your gun. We need your help.”

Aim nodded and joined in with Jess and Murmur as they held Nightmare back from the rest of the battle.